Ask Women and Work
Question: I’m on the hunt for a new job. I’m confident in my experience and abilities, but my weak spot is interviews. I’m just not great at them! What are some tips to performing better during job interviews?
We asked Hollis Sinker, executive director, Centre for Career Design at York University’s Schulich School of Business, to tackle this one:
Interviews make most people at least a little bit nervous, which can be a good thing. It shows that you care and that you’re invested in the process. But if you’re not prepared appropriately, those nerves can get the better of you and you might not leave the best impression with the interviewer.
So, how do you prepare? First, do your company research, which extends beyond performing a cursory review of the organization’s mission, values and website. Has the company been in the news recently? Is it innovating in a particular area? What’s going on with the competition? Steeping yourself in publicly available information about the organization is going to help you pull relatable examples from your own work history when answering interview questions.
Next, you need to understand what kind of interview you’re walking into based on the industry or role that you’re interviewing for. One of the most common types is the behavioural interview, which examines your past behaviour as a predictor of your future performance. Questions often begin, “Tell me about a time when,” or “What would you do if.” With this type of interview, you’ll need plenty of examples from your professional history framed in what we call a “CAR” format. The “C” is for context: What was the situation in which you acted? The “A” is for action: What did you do? Then the “R” is the result: What was the outcome?
You can Google examples of these types of questions by industry or function to predict what you might be asked. You can also use AI tools such as ChatGPT to assist in your preparation, using a prompt like, “Based on this job posting, give me 10 behavioural questions that I’m likely to be asked.” Then it’s about practice, practice, practice.
On the performance side, make sure that you are communicating clearly and listening actively. You can gain more comfort by simulating the experience. Do mock interviews with a friend, mentor or career coach.
Another strategy is to reach out to someone that works there and see if they’d be willing to give you 15 minutes for an informal coffee chat. It takes the pressure off in the sense that it’s not an interview and enables you to learn about the organization. Plus, it’s an opportunity for you to sit down and have a conversation with someone that you don’t really know, helping you develop a comfort with being in that situation.
While there’s no perfect formula for acing interviews, I think you have to take a hard look at yourself and ask, “Where is it that I’m falling short?” Once you’ve isolated what that issue is, you can put together your plan to best prep for the next time.
This week’s must-read stories on women and work
Mid-career sabbaticals can offset burnout and offer a new trajectory for life
We generally associate sabbaticals with university professors, who on a regular basis self-fund year-long excursions to rejuvenate, travel or delve more deeply into a research interest.
But Katrina McGhee, a career break and sabbatical coach, has been working with a different group of people who need a career refresh: Folks in their 30s and 40s who have sacrificed to achieve some success, are sensing burnout, worry they have chosen the wrong career path and are stuck spinning on a hamster wheel they need to escape.
She surveyed her clients last year – the count is nearing 100 – and all are happy they took a break.
Ottawa faces calls to extend funding for Black entrepreneurship programs in fall economic statement
Black-led businesses and community organizations are calling on the federal government to renew funding for entrepreneur support programs that are set to expire in the spring, stressing the need to invest in the racialized group’s contributions to the Canadian economy.
Groups that the government selected to run these programs are now asking for the funding to be made permanent in the fall economic statement that will be tabled later this year.
“The government of Canada has to recognize that they have committed to a community and its growth, and this has been a community that’s been underserved, undervalued, underrepresented,” said Tiffany Callender, chief executive officer of the Federation of African Canadian Economics.
Taste of home: Tiffin lunch boxes bring comfort, affordability to immigrants
Yugali Bharote starts her day in the kitchen, preparing lunch boxes for her sons bound for school – but she doesn’t stop there. She then prepares almost a dozen lunch boxes for customers who have subscribed to her homemade meals. Orders for the meals, or tiffins, were placed by 7 a.m. on a WhatsApp group or through order forms.
A widespread cultural service in countries such as India, the practice is gaining popularity as more South Asian immigrants move to the country and crave meals similar to their mother’s cooking at an affordable price.
For Ms. Bharote, serving tiffins helps her achieve a better work-life balance.
In case you missed it
How can I manage a large, long-term project without getting bogged down in the details?
“The key to managing this has been to build a powerful team,” says Lisa Zarzeczny, co-founder and CEO of Elevate Festival in Toronto. “I see my number one job as recruiting, empowering and retaining a top level of talent. Once I have the right people in the right roles, my role is to support them in whatever capacity they need.
“I think regular, consistent check-ins are extremely important. I’m also an extremely accessible leader, so team members will book ad hoc meetings with me. One of the jobs of a leader is to make sure that they’re not blocking people, so I give people answers as quickly as possible.”
